Pegatron M2N78-LA (Violet) compatibility review

The Pegatron M2N78-LA (Violet) uses the AMD Socket AM2 CPU socket. Any compatible AMD CPU will have the same socket entry.

The Micro-ATXPegatron M2N78-LA (Violet) should fit into all ATX cases, but its smaller size allows you to downsize your system build as a whole. Its size comes at the cost of features, so there are likely to be far fewer connections and expansion options available than in a larger motherboard.

The Pegatron M2N78-LA (Violet) has 4 SATA 2.0 hard drive slots. These allow for data speeds of up to 3GB/s. SATA 2.0 is a very common standard, and despite the emergence of SATA 3.0 - whose potential is difficult to reach currently - SATA 2.0 remains a viable option.

The Pegatron M2N78-LA (Violet)supports onboard graphics. This allows for integrated graphics when paired with a compatible CPU that supports them. Integrated graphics are a cheap alternative to using a graphics card, but should be avoided when frequently using modern applications or games that require intense graphical processing. There are 1 PCIe x16 slots on this motherboard. This means it is perfectly capable of accommodating the latest graphics cards, although it is important to try and use a graphics card with the same graphics card interface of PCIe v2.x, as anything below will not reach the motherboard's potential, and anything above will have its performance slashed to the bandwidth maximum of the Pegatron M2N78-LA (Violet)'s PCIe v2.x. The Pegatron M2N78-LA (Violet)does not support multiple graphics cards via Nvidia SLI or AMD Crossfire.

The Pegatron M2N78-LA (Violet) has 10 USB 2.0 slots but no USB 3.0 slots. While USB 3.0 slots are so far by no means necessary, and with a plethora of USB 2.0 peripherals to choose from, the USB functionality on this motherboard should be fine. If planning on building a new system, a motherboard with USB 3.0 is likely to have a longer life cycle, however.